January 22, 2012 at 5:26 pmCategory:Flute Treats
Here’s more coolness from Greg Patillo, this time rockin’ it out on Robert Dick’s fabulous Glissando Headjoint. Is’nlt it great that people are still finding new ways to make flute playing cool and fun!
January 21, 2012 at 1:33 pmCategory:Flute Life
It’s time for the Florida Flute Fair again and I am so behind on preparation for my presentation! I submitted two proposals and of course, they chose the one I made up on the fly over the one I could give in my sleep. My topic is Cyberflute, internet resources for the flutist. Kind of ironic considering how bad I have been about posting! (That will be incorporated, how intermittent some resources such as blogs can be.) I didn’t intend to be a topic in the presentation, but there it is! Any input or ideas you have are welcome, I want to be as comprehensive and interesting as possible.
I am looking forward to a weekend devoted to flute and fluting, learning new things, meeting new people, hearing new music, and shopping for flute stuff. It is such a departure from my daily life of being a flutist with a day job. For 3 days I get to just be a flutist, what a luxury!
October 18, 2011 at 5:47 pmCategory:Uncategorized
Hey everybody!
Flute ensemble music publisher and distributor ALRY is closing and is liquidating all of their stock. Much of it is 70% percent off! If you play in an ensemble or teach them, this is a great opportunity to add to your library. I am buying an outrageous amount of music to help out with the start of my local choir. The owner, Amy Blumenthal, wants to clear her shelves and asked me to let all my flute friends know, so I’m telling everyone I can. The catalog is online at “http://www.alrypublications.com” Go check it out, help out Amy and yourself at the same time!
October 10, 2011 at 8:21 pmCategory:Practicing the Flute
As I was practicing my daily dose of Moyse exercises (I’m on Day 13 now, more ABCD), I experienced a tremendous feeling of gratitude for the kind of flute education that I have received. While I feel that I have learned many things on my own, and that students (myself included) are largely responsible for what they learn, I felt very grateful for the lessons my teachers taught me and for the many things I have learned.
For some time now, I have been feeling pretty isolated, flute-wise and education-wise. I do not meet too many people who have had the advanced music education that I have. Most people make a lot more money than I do, or are at least employed in their field, but these are all results of choices we each make. Lately I’ve been meeting flutists who would love to have had the teaching that I received, that are craving knowledge that I have been taking for granted. Reading posts on the Flute List regarding Sir James’s Moyse scale challenge have also reinforced this. There are so many people who have not had a teacher that really taught them the basics of how to play the instrument. Those of us who have had an intensive, thorough flute education are very, very lucky.
But, we shouldn’t stop there! I’ve also been reading stories, articles, and posts about flutists that continue their learning every day. Their curiosity and enthusiasm and determination never wane and neither should yours and mine. There is always more that you can do to improve as a musician. You can read about music and musicians, study scores, compose and arrange pieces, listen to recordings, go to performances, etc, etc, not to mention practice!
As a flutist with a day job, I often bemoan the time that I cannot spend on music and the education that is not being exercised and utilized often enough. Today I was able to remember that I am very lucky. I hope I can carry that feeling around for a long while! Now, go practice your scales and see what you can be grateful for!